
Post written by Laura
Happy New Year and Greetings from Brighton ๐
Chris and I made a last minute decision to spend New Years’ Eve in Brighton with my daughter Zoe and and her boyfriend Chris ๐
We had a lovely evening and they introduced us to Tuaca, a Brighton speciality! This brandy based liquor was apparently brought to the UK in the 1990’s where it took off only in Brighton with something of a cult following.

The 4 of us enjoyed a delicious meal and the plan then was head to the beach to watch NYE fireworks at midnight. But unfortunately this didn’t happen due to torrential rain and instead we spent midnight warm and cosy in a sophisticated wine bar in The Lanes.

New Year Planning
While many people decide the start of a new year is a good time for new resolutions perhaps unsurprisingly my favourite new year activity (other than actually being away) is travel planning with the anticipation of an exciting new year stretching ahead waiting to be filled with fun and adventures!
Life is Short and the World is Large!
With this phrase always embedded at the front of my mind, at present we have the following trips booked for 2023:
- April: a French yoga retreat with my bestie Bridget
- May: Chris and I are planning to walk another 84 miles of the Via Francigena, this time through Tuscany and this time with Flo & Mike as well as Russell & Roza
- July: a week in North Wales with the crazy bunch… similar to South Wales 2022 with our group of 10 friends and 7 dogs in another holiday house

We are at the beginning of a brand new year and while we’ve made some travel plans, it is exciting not to know exactly how the year will unfold or what will happen. This time last year I had no idea I would be visiting the Galapagos during 2022, something I’ve wanted to do since bypassing Ecuador when we did our extended South America trip in 2016! However things aligned (time, money and no Ecuador entry restrictions) and it happened ๐
In addition to the 3 booked trips listed above, the following are in the pipeline:
- Two weeks in Malaysian Borneo with Chris… this was planned for November 2020 but for obvious reasons it never happened. We haven’t yet booked it but I’ve been busy exploring options and tweaking the previous 2020 itinerary.
- As well as the yoga retreat Bridget and I are planning another adventure somewhere… we are thinking of the final 100 km of the Camino de Santiago in Spain but haven’t booked that either.

Looking back to 1st January 2020 on this day I actually wrote “nothing is certain in life and things can change in an instant…” let’s hope any 2023 changes are positive ones!
We wish all good things for everyone in 2023 and happy travels as always ๐